When you arrive at these shows, they hand you a program that lists the wines that will be sampled at each table.
This show gave out flip books with lines for notes. Perfect! Except that it's hard to write super-detailed notes with a purse on your shoulder and a wine glass in your hand. The result? Notes like this:
Okay, that's an extreme example. But it's best to keep your notes brief, and to have a system in place to denote wines that you particularly like -- like a star or smiley face. It may also be best to decide your plan of attack before you walk in: Are you going to try only Cabernet Sauvignons? Maybe you want to limit yourself to South American wines. In any case, don't try to drink everything. It won't end well.
In other wine news, have you tried this one?
Conundrum is a California white blend that is absolutely ahhh-mazing. Seriously. I hadn't had this wine in a while until Tuesday night (notice a theme?), and I'd forgotten just how lush and delicious it is. For a California blend, it's so full-bodied. And if you go to their web site, they won't tell you what's in it, so we'll just have to keep guessing. But do snag this bottle if you get a chance -- it's often sold in 375 mL size (usually at about $9 a pop), so it's really affordable to try.
Finally, on to vodka. We came by this bottle in a round-about way. My father-in-law used to travel a lot to a sister city (Stavropol) in Russia during the 1990s. At some point -- we think some Russian friends brought it over as a gift -- he came to own this bottle of Old Vodka:
My sister-in-law has been in possession of it for some time, and recently gave it to us. We did some research, mainly to find out if it's supposed to be this color:
It is. (Good thing we checked. The hubby wanted to throw it out!) It's also pretty tasty -- think vodka with a spiced rum depth. What we'd really like to know is how much money we're tossing down the hatch. We can't find any price information for this stuff online, except a post or two that call it "rare." Does anyone know anything about Starka Old Vodka?
That's all for booze news today. But coming up this weekend, there are big plans at The Drunken Chef's house, and they include these:
Have a great Friday!
